Just fine and something
Returning from the shops yesterday, I picked up an unexpected A4 envelope from the hallway by the door. Angry letters from debt collectors aren't usually A4, so I opened it. Inside was a short note from my mum saying "This isn't The Dandy as I know it", attached to something so odd that I instantly knew I had to scan it for posterity and share it with my beloved viewers.
Mums are always right about stuff.
This special issue of The Dandy was given away with quaint Scottish tabloid The Sunday Post (home of Oor Wullie and The Broons), where it's always 1932. Maw and Paw WoSland, who get the Post every Sunday, were so struck by it that they sent it straight down for your reporter to examine, and while I have absolutely no idea if it represents the comic's normal content nowadays, I'm definitely heading to WH Smith in the morning to find out.
(A quick Google in the meantime appears to suggest that it does, which would be thoroughly excellent.)
The Post's edition is full of celebrities, with multiple appearances from Harry Hill (who gets a writing credit in his own two-page strip), Alan Sugar, Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and a Dalek. It also features two traditional Dandy characters – Korky The Cat and Desperate Dan – but not in a form that'd be recognisable to anyone who's seen the comic in the last 74 years, and some bizarre original strips including Tiny's Temper and the frankly awesome Pre-Skool Prime Minister, which is totally this year's Axe Cop.
The humour is still unmistakeably aimed at children and John Walker, with its penchant for bodily functions and bottoms, but it's written intelligently and even the many modern references (Wii, Facebook, planking etc) don't come across as forced. It made me laugh more than any of the last five issues of Viz have, anyway. The neo-zombie art is terrific too, and the whole thing is hyperactively lively verging on autistic, in the good sense.
(Actually, the thing it reminds me of most is the incredible couple of years of the UK edition of Maxim around 2005 or so, when it was completely surreal and brilliant, shortly before becoming unimaginably retarded and vile under a new editorial team and then closing down.)
You can download the full issue here, in Comic Book Reader format. You can view it in CDisplay, or just rename the archive from .CBR to .RAR and unzip the raw JPG images. My favourite joke is on page 5. Go!
APPENDIX!
I did some investigating, and it turns out Maxim in fact went down the tubes in late 2006, when acting editor Eoin McSorley (who'd been filling in for the departed Greg Gutfeld, who was chiefly responsible for the tremendous, funny, anarchic mag Maxim had become in the preceding two years) was replaced by what turned out to be some idiot from Nuts, who drove its circulation down the toilet where it rightfully belonged.
I know this because I managed to find the email I sent them when the magazine turned into hideous, moronic misogynist shit overnight, dated 18 November 2006.
"Jesus fucking Christ almighty. What happened, some tosser in demographics spot a gap in the market for a lad mag aimed at people with IQs lower than drunk Nuts readers? I've got three issues left on my subscription, but I'll be setting them on fire as soon as they come through the letterbox, in case they make my brain leak out through my arse in a desperate bid to escape the torture. Please fall down a flight of stairs somewhere remote and take several hours to bleed to death. Preferably outside in the rain. Love, Stu."
what's the best comic book reader for the iphone 4?
No idea.
Eoin McSorley use to turn on on those 'Toughest Pubs/Towns In Britain' programmes.
I like comiczeal for istuff.
"We can punch the yeti too" made me laugh very loudly.
I thoroughly recommend Lew Stringer's (he of Felix And His Amazing Underpants fame) blog – http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
Reviews, commentary and more. Yes.
Ooh, nice link. He mentions the Dandy relaunch here (seems like it happened last October), with some other interesting reading:
http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2010/10/dandy-xtreme-is-dead-here-comes-new.html
And blimey, I've just found another piece that actually references the WoS Forum! That's kinda freaky.
http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2007/08/extreme-reactions-to-dandy-xtreme.html
The link to the forum thread there is a broken old address, but it's talking about this one:
http://s2.zetaboards.com/worldofstuart/topic/816630/1/
I was trying to remember recently which lads mag it was that turned amazingly funny for a short amount of time. Don't suppose there are (or could be…) scans of it?